Tao Te Ching. Read it. Commit it to memory. Burn it. It was written just for you. The Buddha left us with thousands upon thousands of suttras. I feel that he was quite the extrovert. Lao Tzu contained life, or THE WAY, in just 81 verses. I'd have to say that he was an introvert.

It's a very quiet, less wordy instruction manual for life. It professes working with life's rhythms instead of against them. Like when you are frustrated looking for your car keys, just stop searching for a few minutes. For me, that's usually the moment when I find them.

In the Buddha's day they didn't set down scriptures in writing so he pretty much had to wander around for 40 years giving sermons. According to the Pali Canon, the Buddha was initially reluctant to teach at all, so it's difficult to say if he was an extrovert or an introvert persuaded to teach by the enormity of his discovery.

Interestingly, the literature also talks about paccekabuddhas, "secret buddhas" buddhas who haven't the ability/inclination to teach and who never reveal themselves.

I wouldn't say the Buddha's teachings go against the rhythms of life so much as the desires of the monkey-mind and the tyranny of the ego.

I thought about ordaining (for a short time) some years ago but didn't like the idea of being cooped up with a bunch of other monks.

No, I certainly don't meant that the Buddha's teachings go against the rhythms of life. It's just that when I read the Tao, in its concise simplicity, I can breathe again. To me, some of the suttras are too wordy. I've studied Zen for a bit. I appreciate its brevity and its wit."Master, what is the essence of Zen?""Go wash your bowl."